CD 5618 
.N4 S7 
Copy 1 




PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



B05T0NIAN S0GIETY 






Monthly Meeting, June 12, 1888. 










e/fe^ ^am^AmMVo 



j6q£ - 4vp4' 



THE 



PROVINCE SEAL OF NEW HAMPSHIRE 



WILLIAM AND MARY 



l692— l694 



A PAPER READ BY REQUEST BEFORE THE BOSTONIAN SOCIETY, AT 
THE STATED MONTHLY MEETING, HELD JUNE 12, l888 



BY 



JAMES RINDGE STANWOOD 



OF BOSTON 




BOSTON: 

OLD STATE HOUSE 

1889 







CorYRIGHT, 18S9 



James Rindge Stanwood 



3 






Old State House, Boston, June 12, 1888. 

At the Regular Monthly Meeting of the Bostonian Society, held 
this day in the Council Chamber, at 3 o'clock, P. M., Mr. Hamilton 
Andrews Hill, of the Board of Directors, by request, in the absence 
of the President, occupied the Chair. Mr. Hill, addressing the 
Society, referred to the fact that an accession of great historical 
value had been added to the Loan Collection, in the recently 
discovered Seal of the Province of New Hampshire, under their 
Majesties William and Mary, and introduced Mr. James Rindge 
Stanwood, a member of the Society, who read an essay descriptive 
of the same, which had been prepared by request, and which is 
printed on the following pages. 

The thanks of the Society were voted Mr. Stanwood. 

Attest : 

WM. CLARENCE BURRAGE. 

Clerk. 




BLAZON OF ARMS 



WILLIAM III AND MARY II 



"Quarterly, ist and 4th, France and England, quarterly: 2d, or, a lion ramp, 
within a double tressure flory counterflory gu., for Scotland; 3d, az. a harp or, 
stringed ar., for Ireland ; with an escutcheon of pretence, thereon the Arms of 
Nassau, viz: az. billetty or, a lion ramp, gold." — Burke. 



INTRODUCTION 



In the publication of the material embraced within the follow- 
ing pages relative to a Great Seal of the former Province of New 
Hampshire, used during the joint reign of William and Mary, 
Sovereigns of England from 1689 to 1694, the author desires to 
state that this monograph is but introductory to a more elaborate 
and thorough treatment of the subject of the Province Seals under 
the Crown, which he hopes to prepare for the press at a later 
period. In the brief description of the particular Seal in question 
here given, he has endeavored to outline the characteristics of the 
Province Seals, by illustration of the features common to most, if 
not all, as may readily be proved by patient examination. Before 
proceeding, however, to consider the period represented by this 
special form of the Seal — which we are led to single out through 
reason of the preservation of the original die, by rare good fortune, 
to the present day — it is fitting that we review briefly the early 
history of the State which it represents. 

The population embraced in the various scattered plantations 
along the eastern coast of New Hampshire, which by voluntary 
action in 1641, had been, in 1643, placed under the jurisdiction 
of the charter Province of the Massachusetts-Bay, and incorporated 
into the early County of Norfolk, so called, extending from the 
Merrimack to the Pascataqua Rivers, was, thirty-eight years later, 
granted a royal government by King Charles the Second. New 
Hampshire was erected to Provincial dignity, and placed under 
the government of a President and Council. His Majesty's Com- 
mission to John Cutt, of Portsmouth, as President of the first 
Council, bears date the eighteenth of September, 1679, and was 



received at Portsmouth, January i, 1679/80. The first entries in 
the Council Book read as follows : — 

" Portsm in the Prouince of N. Hampshire, Janua : primo. 
1679. This day, by the hands of Edw. Randolph, Esq r ., Wee his 
Maj 'tie's President and Council for the Prou. of N. Hampshire, 
received his Maj'ties Comiss"on of grace & fauor for the Gou'mt 
of said prouince, together w* a Seale & Letter from y e King's 
Maj'tie & his hon b .l e Priui Council." Upon "January y e 14^ 1679, 
The President & Council meiKToned in his Maj'ties Commisson 
assembled at y e president's house in portsm? & then & y re dis- 
tinctly read his Maj'ties s4 Commission as directed." Upon Jan. 
22, following, the King's commission was formally published to the 
inhabitants of the new Province, summoned for that purpose to 
attend at Portsmouth, and March 16, 1679/80, the first General 
Assembly in New Hampshire was convened at the same place. 
To this period dates the official existence of the first Province 
Seal, which was used by President Cutt, and his successor, the 
Hon. Richard Waldron, from 1680 to 1682. 

Of the absolute termination of the use of this earliest Seal in 
the latter part of 1682, we have proof in the following extract from 
a Council record which may be found printed in the late John 
Scribner Jenness's Transcripts from Original Documents in the 
English Archives : " At a Councel held at Portsmouth, October 
y e 4* 1682. A new Commission from His Maj'ty produced by 
Edward Cranfield, Esq r ., Constituting him his Maj'ty's Lieutenant- 
Governour & Commander-in-chief of this His Province of New 
Hampshire, was read, & according to the direction in the said 
Commissn, the said Edw<? Cranfield, Esq 1 ', was by y? Persons 
nominated & appointed therein to be of yf Councel, sworn upon y e . 
Holy Evangelists, & he took the Oaths of Allegiance & Supremacy. 
* * * * The Old Seal of y e Province, having this Inscription, 

SIGILLUM PR/ESIDENTIS ET CONSILIS DE PROVINCIA NOVJE HAMPTONLE 

in nova anglia was by y? Governour demanded (as directed by 
the said Commissi ) & delivered up to him by the late President, 
Richard Waldron, Esq 1 '. And a new one of Silver, brought by the 
Govern 1 "., having these words around it, sigillum provincle nostra 
NOViE HAMPTONiiE in nova anglia, was shown, & is to be kept & 
in Custody of the Governour." 

Cranfield held office from October, 1682, until late in 1685, 
when he returned to England, and was succeeded by Walter Bare- 



foote, his Deputy Governor, who retained control only for a short 
time, during which the Seal does not appear to have been changed ; 
and after the publishing of the commission issued by James the 
Second, in the early part of 1686, in which Joseph Dudley was 
appointed " President of the King's Territory and Dominion in 
New England," the only public Seal used in New Hampshire was 
that attached to the decisions of the Court, which was common to 
the whole territory of New England, all separate Provincial organi- 
zation having been swept away. This state of affairs continued 
under his successor, Sir Edmund Andros, lasting until the over- 
throw of his government in 1689. Later, New Hampshire (March 
19, 1690) again voluntarily became united with Massachusetts, as 
under the old charter, with Simon Bradstreet as Governor. This 
union endured until their Majesties William and Mary re-established 
the Province, and commissioned Samuel Allen, of London, Governor, 
who assumed control through his deputy, John Usher, upon August 
13, 1692, at which time, presumably, the use of the Province Seal 
which is the subject of this monograph, began. 

The next Seal ordered was that bearing the titles of William the 
Third, as adopted in 1695, after the death of Queen Mary, which 
was used until the Earl of Bellomont published his commission, in 
1699, when it was replaced by another, followed by a Seal to Joseph 
Dudley in 1709, bearing the arms and titles of Queen Anne. Then 
came, in succession, the Seals of George I, II and III, to succeed- 
ing Governors, which brings us down to 1775, at which date the 
royal authority over New England ended. A plan of government 
was then established by the people, January 5, 1776, through their 
representatives, convened in congress at Exeter, to which was 
given the title of The Colo?iy of New Hampshire. A written Con- 
stitution was at the same time adopted, New Hampshire being the 
first of the Colonies to take this action. A Seal, of copper, one 
inch and a half in diameter, bearing an appropriate device, was 
fixed upon, but had official existence only for seven or eight 
months. 

Upon September 11, 1776, the Council and House of Represen- 
tatives voted to take the name of "The State of New Hampshire." 
At this time the form of the Seal was changed, but only varied 
from its predecessor in a very slight degree. A Latin inscription, 
reading, (translated) " The Seal of the State of New Hampshire," 
replaced the Colony legend, but with this exception, and the 



8 



enlargement of the die to the size of two inches diameter, no fur- 
ther variation appears. This Seal was borne by the State through 
the war of the Revolution, down to the adoption of the present 
Seal, upon the first of November, 1784. 

The author takes this opportunity to state, that he has illus- 
trated the letter-press with reproductions of the above three Seals, 
borne by New Hampshire as Colony and State. The cut of the 
Seal of the Colony follows an impression in wax from a copper die 
belonging to Mr. Edward H. Cilley, furnished through the courtesy 
of Mr. John Ward Dean, A. M., to whom the author extends his 
sincere thanks for valuable advice in connection with this subject. 
The cut of the first State Seal (1 776-1 784) is likewise from a wax 
impression from the original die, very kindly furnished by the 
Hon. A. B. Thompson, the Secretary of State of New Hampshire ; 
while that of the Seal used from 1784 to the present time, is from 
an early wood-cut executed in 1785. This will be found to well 
repay a critical examination, inasmuch as it exhibits the exact form 
in which the Seal accepted in 1784, was confirmed by special act of 
the Legislature, under date of February 12, 1785. To Secretary 
Thompson the author is additionally indebted for the cut of the 
Seal now in use, as exhibited in Figure 4 ; and his acknowledg- 
ments are likewise due to the Hon. Mellen Chamberlain, LL.D., 
Librarian of the Boston Public Library. 

The cut facing the Introduction exhibits the Arms of William 
and Mary, reigning jointly, borne by them as sovereigns of Britain 
from 1689 to 1694; and thenceforward during the separate reign 
of William the Third, which ended March 8, 1702. Upon com- 
parison, it will be noticed that the charges upon the shield are 
identical with those shown in the illustration of the Province Seal, 
as shown in the frontispiece. This blazon of Arms follows an old 
plate (R. Sheppard, sculpsit,) which appears in Rapin's History of 
England, {London : M.DCC.XXXVII). 

The heliotype of the Province Seal is an exact reproduction of 
an impression from the original die, the dimensions of which have 
been carefully preserved, while the vignette portraits shown of their 
Majesties William and Mary follow two fine folio mezzotints of 
early date. 

T. R. S. 
Boston, Massachusetts, March 12, 1889. 



THE SEAL 

OF THE 

PROVINCE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE 

UNDER 

WILLIAM AND MARY 



It is a matter of great historical interest, Mr. Chairman, 
that we have before us to-day the original silver die of that 
form of the Province Seal borne by New Hampshire during 
the period between the years 1692 and 1694, granted by their 
Majesties William and Mary, and preserved, by a strange 
chance, for nearly two centuries. This ancient Seal, which, 
notwithstanding its age, retains almost the same sharpness of 
outline as it possessed upon leaving the hands of the en- 
graver, has recently been placed in the loan collection of this 
Society, by its present owners, the Misses Getchell, of New- 
buryport, Massachusetts. In rising to offer this paper upon 
this valuable relic of the Provincial day, it will be my endeavor 
to render, as clearly as lies in my power, some intelligible 
account of it, in a brief sketch of this period of New Hamp- 
shire history, beginning at the time of 

THE SALE TO ALLEN. 

One hundred and ninety-seven years ago, the twenty- 
seventh of last April, the heirs of Captain John Mason,* 

* Captain John Mason, son of John and Isabella Mason, was born at 
Lynn-Regis, co. Norfolk, England, in December, 1586. He entered the 
service of his sovereign in the Royal Navy, at an early age, receiving rapid 
promotion to various important positions. About 161 5 he was appointed 
Governor of the Colony of Newfoundland, and Treasurer of the Army to 
his Majesty King Charles the First in 1626. His abilities were recognized 
at an early period by the Great Council for New England, and three Char- 



IO 



sometime of the borough of Portsmouth, in English Hamp- 
shire, and the grantee, through successive charters, of the 
lands in New England known by the name of New Hamp- 
shire, sold to Samuel Allen,* of the city of London, merchant, 
for the sum of " Two Thousand Seaven hundred and Fifty 
Pounds of Lawfull mony of England," f their right and title to 
the said lands, as heirs-at-law of their great-grandfather, " the 
entail of the same having been previously docked by fine 

ters for lands in that section were granted to Mason solely, and three to 
Mason associated with others. Those to Mason solely were Mariana, 
March 9, 162 1-2; New Hampshire, Nov. 7, 1629; and New Hampshire 
and Masonia, April 22, 1635. Those in association with others were the 
Province of Maine, April 20, 1622, to Sir Ferdinando Gorges and himself; 
Laconia, Nov. 17, 1629, likewise to Gorges and himself; and Pescataway, 
Nov. 3, 1631, to Gorges, Mason and seven others. In 1634, Mason was 
made Captain of the South-Sea Castle, an ancient fortress commanding the 
entrance to the harbor of Portsmouth, England. In June, 1632, he had 
been elected a member of the Great Council for New England ; and in the 
following November became its Vice-President. Upon the surrender of the 
New England Patent, in 1635, he was appointed Vice-Admiral of New 
England, but died in December of that year at his residence in London. — 
Charles Wesley Tuttle, Ph.D.: The Life of Captain John Mason, edited 
by John Ward Dean, A.M. Boston: 1887. 

* " Colonel Allen, 11 says Belknap, " is represented as a gentleman of no 
remarkable abilities, and of a solitary, rather than of a social, disposition. 
His character, while he was a merchant in London, was fair and upright, 
and his domestic deportment amiable and exemplary. He was a member 
of the Church of England by profession, but constantly attended divine 
worship in the congregation at New Castle. His commission from William 
and Mary bears date March 1, 1692. It appoints Allen ' Governour and 
Commander-in-chiefe of all that part of Our Province of New Hampshire 
lying and extending itself from three miles northward of Merrimack River, 
or any part thereof, unto the Province of Maine, with the South Part of the 
Isles of Shoals. 1 Allen assumed personal control of provincial affairs, Sept. 
15, 1698, but was soon after succeeded by Richard, Earl of Bellomont, 
whose commission from William the Third was dated June 18, 1699. " 

f The deed assuming to convey to Samuel Allen the rights of Mason in 
New Hampshire, bears date of London, April 27, 1691, and is signed by 
" John Tufton Mason, and Robert Tufton Mason, sons of Robert Tufton 
Mason, sometime of the Parish of St. MaruVs-in-the-Fields, in the County 
of Middlesex. 11 — The State of New Hampshire : Provincial Papers, Vol. //, 
PP- 535-540. 



II 



and recovery before the King's Bench." These proceedings, 
though taking place in England, received at the time full 
sanction of law ; as in the charters granted, by a curious legal 
fiction, the lands in question were, for the purpose of main- 
taining undisputed jurisdiction, described as of the parish of 
East Greenwich, in the County of Kent.* The name of New 
Hampshire, as descriptive of any definite portion of land in 
America, dates from the year 1629. "Upon the seventh of 
November, 1629, a day memorable in the history of New 
Hampshire," says Charles W. Tuttle, Ph.D., in his Memoir of 
Captain yo/in Mason, " the Councilf granted to Mason a pa- 
tent of all that part of the Province of Maine lying between 
the Merrimack and Pascataqua rivers ; and Mason called it 
New Hampshire, out of regard to the favor in which he held 
Hampshire in England, where he had resided many years. 
Portsmouth was the chief naval station of England, and 
Mason lived there during the wars with Spain and France." 

ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN USHER. 

Samuel Allen, the loyal and prosperous London merchant, 
enjoyed the favor of their Majesties William and Mary, who 
in 1689, at the close of the English Revolution, had jointly 
ascended the throne ; and the first of March, 1692, he received 
the royal commission as Governor of the Province. John 

* The phraseology used in the Charters to Mason is as follows : " To be 
holden of his said Majesty, his heirs and successors, as of His Highness's 
Manor of East Greenwich, in the County of Kent." 

f King James the First, by letters patent under the Great Seal of Eng- 
land, dated Nov. 3, 1620, and the eighteenth of his reign, constituted a 
Council consisting of forty noblemen, knights and gentlemen, by the name 
of " The Council established at Plymouth, ill the County of Devon, for the 
Planting, Ruling, Ordering and Governing of New England in America." 
This Patent, or Charter, which is the foundation of all the grants that were 
made of the country of New England, included "All that part of America, 
lying and being in breadth from forty degrees of Northerly Latitude from the 
Equinoctial Line to the forty-eighth degree of the said Northerly Latitude — 
and in length of and within all the breadth aforesaid, throughout all the 
main lands, from sea to sea." — The State of New Hampshire : Provincial 
Papers, Vol. I, p. 5. 



12 



Usher, his son-in-law, was at the same time appointed Lieu- 
tenant-Governor, and assumed control of the government at 
New Castle on the thirteenth of August following, as the 
deputy of Allen, who did not come to America until 1698, 
publishing his commission of Governor of the Province upon 
the fifteenth of September of that year.* Usher administered 
the government with unquestionable ability, although with 
indifferent success, owing in some measure to the fact that 
he appears to have been most distasteful as a magistrate to 
the people of the Province. In 1696, he was succeeded by 
William Partridge, who held office until 1698, when Allen 
came out from London to assume formal authority. Success, 

* John Usher was born in Boston, April 17, 1648, and was a represen- 
tative of a family which has been very prominent in New England. He 
was by occupation a stationer. Dunton, writing in 1686, speaks of him as 
"making the best figure in Boston, very rich, adventures much to sea, but 
has got his estate by book-selling." He was twice married : first, to Eliza- 
beth, daughter of Peter Lidgett, a merchant of Boston; and second, to 
Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel Allen, Governor of New Hampshire from 
1692 to 1699. In 1678 he was employed by the Governor and Company of 
Massachusetts-Bay to visit England to buy the right and interest of the 
heirs of Ferdinando Gorges in the Province of Maine, which he effected 
(March 13, 1677-78) for "one thousand, two hundred and fifty pounds of 
lawful English money." Upon the consolidation of the New England 
Provinces in 1685, he accepted office under Dudley, and next under Andros, 
whose downfall he subsequently shared. He afterwards proceeded to 
London, and Samuel Allen, having purchased of the Masons their title to 
New Hampshire, and obtained his commission as Governor, appointed his 
son-in-law Usher as his deputy. Usher assumed the government, August 
13, 1692. He continued, however, to carry on his business in Boston, 
occasionally visiting his Province, and his administration was by no means 
either pleasing to himself, or agreeable to the people. He was displaced 
from office by William Partridge, who was commissioned Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor June 26, 1696; but was reinstated by Allen, when he came over in 
1698, although he remained in office only until the coming of the Earl of 
Bellomont, in 1699. He was, however, reappointed under Joseph Dudley, 
June 10, 1703, and served until October, 171 5, when he was succeeded by 
George Vaughn, whose commission as Lieut. -Governor from George the 
First was published " in the market-place in Portsmo. October 13, 17 15." — 
Jeremy Belknap, A. M. : The History of New Hampshire. Philadelphia : 
1784. 



*3 



however, did not wait upon his ill-starred administration, and 
its duration was brief, he being succeeded within less than a 
year by the Earl of Bellomont as Governor and Commander- 
in-chief. Ex-Governor Allen subsequently became involved 
in much vexatious and unsuccessful litigation relative to his 
lands in New Hampshire, the termination of which he was 
not destined to see. He died at New Castle in 1705, leaving 
a widow and four children ; and was buried within the walls 
of Fort William and Mary. 



* 



DESCRIPTION OF THE SEAL. 

The ancient die which lies before us is contemporary with 
the period to which I have just referred. It is of sterling 
silver, weighing exactly three ounces, while its measurements 
are : diameter, one and thirteen-sixteenths inches ; circumfer- 
ence, five and five-eighths inches ; and its thickness, one quar- 
ter of an inch. A careful search of the Records of Council, 
as contained in the New Hampshire Provincial Papers, of 
the manuscripts in the office of the Secretary of State of 
New Hampshire, and in other quarters, has as yet failed to 
disclose any official information respecting the precise date 
at which it was sent over by the Right Honorable the Lords 
Commissioners of Trade and Plantations. 

Let us examine closely the die, for we are certain to be well 
repaid for so doing, as it is of superb execution, evidently the 
work of a skillful hand, probably that of the King's engraver. 
We see the shield of Britain, as it existed two hundred years 

* New Castle, originally part of Portsmouth, and known as Great Island, 
was granted a Town Charter in 1693, by William and Mary. Contrary to 
the assertion often made, proof is utterly lacking to show that it derived 
its name either from the ducal house of Newcastle, or the English borough 
on the Tyne. From the early days of the settlement there has been men- 
tion of a fortification upon this important point, which is frequently referred 
to in early Provincial documents as "the Castle." When William and 
Mary re-erected the Province in 1691-92, the Castle fortress was greatly 
strengthened and renovated, and from that time took the name of Fort 
William and Mary. The settlement from this onward was known as New 
Castle, and was thus incorporated. 



H 



ago. Crested with the Royal Crown, and encircled with the 
ribbon of the Garter,* it displays the lions passant guardant of 
Normandy and Guyenne, f marshaled with the lilies of France,^ 

* Preeminent amongst the Orders of Chivalry, both as regards veritable 
antiquity, and splendor, is unquestionably "The Most Noble Order of 
the Garter." Founded by Edward the Third under circumstances which 
have given rise to much discussion, its principal and unique distinguishing 
insignia, unlike any other Order, is not the badge, but "the Garter" itself. 
According to Ashmole, who utterly refutes the romantic invention of Poly- 
dore Virgil, as to the occasion of the Order, — the first design of it was 
conceived in 1344, in imitation of "The Round Table," with the object of 
adorning martial prowess, and "it need not be regarded as improbable, that 
the Royal Founder may have issued forth his own garter for the signal of a 
battle that was crowned with success." Be this as it may, the date of the 
institution of the Order has been ascertained as the nineteenth of January, 
1334 (18th of Edward the Third), when it was placed under the Protection 
of "God, the Virgin Mary, St. George of Cappadocia, and St. Edward 
the Confessor." The founder established a perfect equality in the Order, 
constituted it of one class only, and ordained that the King of England, his 

heirs and successors forever, should be " its Sovereign or Superior." 

The badge of the Order is a dark-blue velvet ribbon, edged with gold, 
bearing the motto " Honi soil qui maly pense" in gold letters, with buckle 
and pendant of chased gold. It is worn on the left leg, below the knee. — 
Major J 'as . H '. Lawrence- Archer : The Orders of Chivalry . London: 1887. 

f The standard of Rollo, first Duke of Normandy, bore a leopard, the 
offspring of a lion and panther, that beast of prey noted for rashness having 
been adopted by the Northmen, or Normans, as typical of themselves, so 
characterized by boldness and impetuosity. When the country of Maine, 
upon the Mayenne, became annexed to the Duchy of Normandy, a second 
leopard was added to the Norman standard, and was thus unfurled at 
Hastings by William the Conqueror (two golden leopards passant guardant, 
"upon a ruby field"). When Henry the Second espoused Eleanor of 
Aquitaine, or Guyenne, he marshaled the Arms of Bordeaux, the capital 
city of the Duchy of Guyenne, as a charge of augmentation with the two 
Norman leopards, or lions. Much controversy has arisen as to whether the 
charges should be leopards or lions, but the latter would appear the more 
correct. John, the Monk of Harmonstier, in Tourain, a contemporary 
writer, relates, that when Henry the First selected Geoffrey Plantagenet to 
be his son-in-law : " Clypeus Leonculos aureos imaginarios habens collo ejus 
suspenditur" — \_John Burke: Encyclopaedia of Heraldry and General 
Armory. ~) London : 1844. 

\ Edward the Third of England, in 1327, assumed the title of King of 
France, in supposed right of his mother Isabella, daughter of Philip the 



i5 



the lion rampant in double tressure flory counter flory of 
Scotland,* and the harp of Erin, bearing William's escutcheon 
of pretence, thereon the Arms of Nassau, viz: "Azure, billetty 
or, a lion rampant, gold." This latter device is illustrative 
of the triumphant outcome of the second English Revolution, 
which drove James the Second into exile, and placed the 
Prince of Orange upon the former throne of the Stuarts ; to 
which the following reference is made, in a unique poetical 
description of the ensigns of England : 

" When Nassau, in the pomp of war, 
Rode proudly to Torbay,f 
And landing under freedom's star, 
Drove dastard James away, 

The Royal shield escutcheon'd bore 

The Dutchman's lion bold ; 
For he and Lady Mary wore 

The people's crown of gold." 

Fourth of France, surname d " The Fair,' 1 and quartered "az., semee of 
fleurs-de-lis " with the Arms of England; " gu. three lions passant guar- 
da?it, or." Henry the Fifth adopted the Arms of France as altered by the 
French King, from "az., semee of fleurs-de-lis," to "az , three fleurs-de-lis, 
or." This change was made in 141 5. — {Ibid.) 

* James the First (Sixth of Scotland) in 1603 quartered the Arms of 
Scotland upon the English shield, to wit : "or, a lion rampant within a 
double tressure, flory counter flory gu.'* This monarch at the same time 
quartered the Arms of Ireland, to wit : " az., a harp or, stringed ar." — Ibid. 

f William, Prince of Orange, Duke of Nassau, sailed from Helvoetsluys, 
in Holland, Nov. 1, 1688, for the coast of England, with a fleet of more 
than six hundred ships, carrying nearly fifteen thousand men. He landed 
at Torbay, in Devonshire, on Nov. 5, and on the next day his troops 
marched up the country. On Friday, Nov. 9, he entered the city of Exeter, 
the capital of the West, at the head of his army, being received with great 
demonstrations of joy. " Such a sight, 1 ' says Macaulay, " had never before 
been seen in Devon. Many went forth half a day's journey to meet the 
champion of their religion. All the neighboring villages poured forth their 
inhabitants. A great crowd, consisting chiefly of young peasants, brandish- 
ing their cudgels, had assembled on the top of Haldon Hill, whence the 
army, marching from Chudleigh, first descried the rich valley of the Exe. 
The road, all down the long descent, and through the plain to the banks of 



i6 



The Latin inscription upon the collar encircling the shield, 
reads as follows : sig : provin : n'r^e : novjE : hampton : in : 
Nov : anglia. The English rendering, literally translated, 
reads : " The Seal of Our Province of New Hampton in 
New England." It will be noticed that an abbreviation of 
an early form of the present proper name of Hampshire is 
used, to which I shall make special reference later. Outside 
the shield, upon either side, in script, appears the monogram 
of William and Mary, and two capital letters R entwined, 
standing respectively for the Latin Rex and Regina. Every 
word of the inscription upon the collar, whether abbreviated, 
or spelled in full, is separated from its neighbor by colons, 
instead of pellets, which appear upon later seals. 

A PROVINCE SEAL UNDER WILLIAM THE THIRD. 

Let us now turn back to the record, where we shall learn 
something of another Great Seal which was sent by Britain 
to her Province of New Hampshire, some years later. The 
first mention* which I have yet found in the minutes of 

the river, was lined, mile after mile, with spectators. The houses were 
gaily decorated. Descriptions of the martial pageant were circulated all 
over the kingdom. Before William, who was armed on back and breast, 
wearing a white plume and mounted on a white charger, attended by a 
goodly company of gentlemen and pages, was borne aloft the Prince's 
banner. It displayed the Arms of England with those of the House of 
Nassau, with the legend : ' I will maintain the Protestant religion and the 
liberties of England.' .... The struggle which ensued between William 
and King James the Second for the possession of the English throne, was 
closed December 23, 1688, by the flight of James to France. William and 
Mary, reigning jointly, were proclaimed King and Queen of England, Scot- 
land, France and Ireland, at London and Westminster, February 12, 1689." 
* The limited time at the disposal of the author before the regular meet- 
ing at which this paper was given, did not afford him opportunity for as 
close a reference to all available documents bearing upon this matter as he 
would otherwise have made. Since then, he has made further research, 
and, it is almost unnecessary to add, has succeeded in thoroughly authen- 
ticating the earlier Seals borne by the Province of New Hampshire, com- 
mencing with that sent to John Cutt, President of the first Council, which 
was received at Portsmouth, according to the Council Record : "Ja,7iua: 
ftritno, 1679." Further information obtained has been sufficiently referred 
to by the author in his Introduction to this monograph. 



17 

Council respecting the Province Seal, appears under date of 
the fifteenth of August, 1699, seven years subsequent to the 
time at which we have substantial proof that the use of that 
form of the Seal bearing the British shield with the escutcheon 
of pretence of the Prince of Orange, had begun, as attached 
to State papers. I place this minute in a note, verbatim, as 
it constitutes the first official record of the Seal of this 
historical period.* 

* At a Council and GenU Assembly held by adjournment, at Portsm? , 
Martis die, Aug 15th Anno 1699, Ante meridiem. 

Present : 
His Excellency Richard, Earle of Bellomont, Capt Gen 1 . 1 . etc., William 
Partridge, L* Govern*; 

John Hinckes'J Peter Coffin 'J 

Nath 1 Fryer >Esqrs. Capt Jno. Gerrish > Esqrs. 

Robert Elliott) Rich<l Waldron ) 

His Excellency produces a former Great Seale of this Province, which he 
reced this day from the hands of Sam 1 . 1 Allen Esqr., late Governr., and which 
he caused to be cut in two and defaced, pursuant to His Maj'ty's warrant, 
bearing date the tenth day of Jan'y, 1699, in the tenth year of His Maj'ty's 
Reign ; and the silver of the said former Seale His Excellency hath deliv- 
ered to the Secretary, to be restored to Sam 1 . Allen, aforesaid. 

His Excellency doth also deliver to W m Partridge Esqr Lt Governr., a 
new Great Seale, lately sent to His Excellency from England ; and orders 
that the Secretary do enter His Maj'ty's warrant in the Council Book, 
authorizing and commanding the use of the said Seale within His Maj'ty's 
Province ; which warrant bears date as aforesaid : 



) w,lua° m F [ WILLIAM R. 

n^^-w^ To Our Right Trusty and well-beloved cousin Richard Earle of 
Bellomont, Our Governr and Comander-in-chiefe of Our Province of New 
Hampshire, in New England, in America; and to Our Lt Governr and 
Comandr -in-chiefe of Our said Province for the time being, GREETING : 
with this you will receive a Seale prepared by Our Order for the use of the 
Government of New Hampshire ; which Seale is engraven with our Arms, 
Garter, Supporters, Motto and Crown; with this Inscription around ye 
same : sig. province nostra de nov. hamptonia in americ : and our 
will and pleasure is, and we do hereby authorize you and our L* Governr or 
Comander-in-chiefe [pi 5] of our said Province, for the time being, to affix 
the said Seale to all patents and grants of Land, and to all Publick acts and 
Instruments of Governmt which shall be made and passed in our name, 



i8 



COMPARISON OF THE TWO SEALS. 

Here we find an accurate description of the new Seal of 
the Province, as officially prescribed in 1699, a photograph of 
which, slightly enlarged from the original size, I have the 
pleasure of presenting to the Society. It will be noticed 
that in design this form of the Great Seal differs materially 
in several respects from that borne upon the silver die. For 
example, the Latin upon the collar of the Seal of 1699, reads : 

SIG. PROVINCE NOSTRA DE NOV I HAMPTONIA IN AMERIC \ Or, 

rendered literally in English: "The Seal of Our Province of 
New Hampton in America " ; whereas that shown upon the 
form incised upon the silver die before us reads : {see previous 
description) " The Seal of Our Province of New Hampton in 
New England." Furthermore, the Latin upon the two varies 
in other ways. The adjective nostrcc, spelled in full upon the 
Seal of 1699, appears on the silver die in its contracted form 
of nrce ; while the preposition de, shown on the former, is 
lacking in the latter, on which the adjective nova is abbre- 
viated. The Latin proper name Hmnptonia appears as an 
abbreviation upon the die, while on the later Seal it is spelled 
in full, which additionally exhibits the contraction Americ : 
instead of Nov : Anglia. A yet more important difference is 
shown in the fact, that the shield borne on the die before us 
exhibits no supporters to the royal arms ; while upon the 
other they appear in their proper place. The royal motto, 
Dieu et mon droit* appears alike on both. 

within our said Province; and that it be to all intents and purposes of 
the same force and validity as any former Seale appointed for the public 
use of the Government in our said Province, hath heretofore been ; which 
former Seales are not to be further made use of, or affixed to any public 
acts or Instruments whatever, but to be defaced and broken. 

Given at our Court at Kensinton, the tenth day of January, 1699, m tne 
tenth year of our Reign. 

By his Maj'ty's command 
Ja. Vernon 

The State of New Hampshire : Provincial Papers, Vol. III. p. 80. 

* King Richard the First (Caeur de Lion) when he beleaguered the 
Castle of Gisars, in Normandy, gave as a parole, Dieu et mon droit, because 



19 



The fact, however, should be borne in mind, that this 
specimen of the Province Seal, to which I have referred in 
the preceding paragraph, as having been sent over to the Earl 
of Bellomont, and in support of which I have quoted the 
Council Record, is not the Province Seal which immediately 
succeeded that form which lies before us upon the silver die. 
The latter was superseded officially in 1695, although I have 
as yet failed to find the Council minute to that effect. Ample 
evidence, however, is not lacking of the fact that such was 
the case, as I shall proceed to show. 



DATE OF THE EARLIER SEAL. 

We will next consider the question as to the date to which 
this form of the Province Seal of New Hampshire, as shown 
upon the die before us, is to be assigned. As I have said, I 
have failed to find any record of Council which affords any 
light on the subject ; it therefore remains, for the present, to 
formulate a theory. It is my opinion — in which I am sup- 
ported by one of our most careful antiquaries — that the 
proper period to which to assign the official existence of this 
silver die, is that between the years 1692 and 1694, or that 
part of Usher's administration covered by the joint reign of 
William and Mary, making, of course, proper allowance for 
the probability that a short additional time elapsed before a 
new Seal was sent over, and the old one ordered to be disused. 

We should not fail to bear in mind the fact, that New 
Hampshire, even at this time, had not fully recovered from 
the shock sustained by her at that depressing period in her 
history, beginning with the fall of the administration of Sir 
Edmund Andros, in 1689, which had left her without any 
general government for nearly a year, during which time she 
experienced the most cruel and sanguinary Indian massacre 

the King of France, Philip Augustus, had, without any right whatever, 
taken that place, which belonged to England. The motto has ever since 
endured, in testimony of the English prince's victory. — John Biwke : Ency- 
clopaedia of Heraldry and General Armory . London ) 1844. 



20 



which is borne upon her annals.* At the close of this period, 
by her voluntary action, taken March 19, 1690, she was 
received under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. This lasted 
until, by the sale of Mason's rights to Allen in 1691, their 
Majesties William and Mary re-erected the Province in 1692. 
Public affairs were yet in an unsettled and disturbed state, 
ample evidence of which is afforded by such manuscripts 
of the time as have been preserved. It is possibly due to 
this, that we look in vain among the Council records for 
some reference to the Province Seal as used by Usher during 
the earlier years of his government. Upon the twenty-eighth 
of December, 1694, Queen Mary died,f and from the next 

* Upon the morning of Friday, June 28, 1689, before dawn, the Indians 
made a descent upon the village of Cochecho, on the outskirts of Dover, 
and utterly destroyed it. Twenty-three people were killed, including Major 
Richard Waldron, and twenty-nine carried away, most of whom were sold 
in Canada to the French. The news of the massacre reached Portsmouth 
at eight o'clock the same morning, and a post was at once dispatched to 
inform the authorities of Massachusetts, and to request assistance. It was 
promptly received, and a reply sent to Portsmouth expressive of sympathy 
and aid. Upon July 2, the General Court of Massachusetts ordered, " that 
drums be beaten up in Boston and the adjacent towns for volunteers to go 
forthwith for the succour and relief of our neighbour friends at Pascataqua, 
distressed by the Indian enemies." It was further provided that these 
troops should receive from "the public treasury eight pounds for every 
fighting man's head or scalp that they shall bring in." — Massachusetts 
Colony Records, Vol. VI. 

f " Her Majesty Queen Mary, daughter of King James the Second, of 
England, and consort of William the Third, Prince of Orange, and King of 
England (1689-1702), died in London on the twenty-eighth of December, 
1694, at about one o'clock in the morning, of the small-pox, to which her 
constitution, which had never been a strong one, finally succumbed. At 
the time of her death she was in the thirty-third year of her age, and the 
sixth of her reign. The two Houses of Parliament set an example that 
was followed by the whole nation, of making consolatory and dutiful 
addresses to the King. The Queen was buried with the ordinary ceremony, 
and with one piece of magnificence that could never happen before ; for 
both Houses of Parliament went in procession before the chariot that car- 
ried her body to Westminster Abbey ; where places were prepared for both 
houses to sit in form, while the Archbishop (Dr. Tennison) preached the 
funeral sermon. This could never happen before, since the sovereign's 
death had always dissolved our Parliaments." [Reference is here made to 




^a 






21 



day following, began the separate reign of William the Third, 
which terminated March 8, 1702. Following the usual custom 
of changing the Seal after the death of the sovereign, the 
titles of William and Mary fell,* and it is recorded that such 
a change was here made, in proof of which I quote below 
from an undoubted authority upon the subject, f In accor- 
dance with this, a new form of the Province Seal was prepared 
and sent out to New Hampshire, of which we have ample 
evidence in the impressions borne upon the State papers of 
John Usher, beginning in 1695, issued in the name of 
William the Third, and bearing his new titles. J 

the bill providing for triennial sessions of Parliament, which passed both 
Houses November 12, 1694; and which received the royal assent and be- 
came a law December 22, 1694. Author. ~\ Gilbert Burnet {Bishop of 
Satis faery) : History of his Own Time. London: 1724-1734. 

* The news of the death of Queen Mary was officially promulgated " at a 
Council and Generall Assembly held at New Castle, upon May 8, 1695," at 
which "the Lieut. Govern* presented to the Board the speeches of the 
Lds. and Corns- [of Trade and Plantations] to his Majesty condoleing the 
loss of her Majesty with the King's answer thereto. The Lieut. Governr- 
proposed to this Board, that since they had Rec'd the certain Intelligence 
of the Queen's death, if it was not proper and necessary that all writts 
henceforth should be in the name of W m over England etc. King." And it 
was " Ordered that from henceforth all writts are issued out in King W m ' s 
name only. 1 ' — The State of New Hampshire : Provincial Papers, Vol. II, 
p. 52. 

f The titles of William and Mary, reigning jointly, as borne upon their 
seals and coins, were as follows : gvlielmvs • in. ■ et maria • 11. • dei ■ 

GRATIA • ANG ' FRAN ■ ET HIB ■ REX ■ ET ■ REGINA ■ FIDEI ■ DEFENSORES ■ 

After the death of Queen Mary, taking effect as soon as possible thereafter, 
the titles of William the Third, as borne in the same manner, were : 

GVLIELMVS 'III. ' DEI ■ GRATIA * MAGN.E * BRITANNLE ■ FRANCLE ■ ET * 

hibernle • rex • fidei • defensor ■ — Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas : 
A r otitia Historic a. London : 1824. 

% Of this Seal I instance an impression of a warrant signed by John 
Usher, dated at New Castle, upon the sixth of November, 1695. The pre- 
amble recites the new titles of William the Third, reigning alone, and the 
warrant is addressed to Robert Elliot and William Vaughan, as members of 
his Majesty's Council for the Province, ordering them to administer "the 
oaths appointed by Act of Parliament to every member of the Assembly 
elected to sitt for his Majesty's Province of New Hampshire." A represen- 
tation of this Seal of William the Third, it will be well to note here, has 



22 



It is, therefore, practically certain, that the form of Seal 
exhibited on the silver die ceased to have official authority in 
the earlier part of 1695. When Samuel Allen at length came 
to New Hampshire to assume administrative control in 1698, 
he undoubtedly brought with him a Province Seal, which, when 
the Seal prescribed as we have seen by royal order in 1699 
arrived, had to be, and was, as shown by the Council record, 
turned over by Allen to the Earl of Bellomont, and was " cut 
in two and defaced " in Council. That being done, it is fair 
to draw the inference that the royal command having been 
complied with, the earlier die through some informality 
escaped destruction, and being laid away with various private 
effects, either of Usher or of Allen, passed down to posterity 
through the hands of some of their descendants. 

THE SEAL BORNE BY THE COLONY. 

In this paper it has been my object to describe, as clearly 
as possible, the Great Seal of the former Province of New 
Hampshire, in the form which it bore immediately subse- 
quent to the interesting epoch of the second English Revo- 
lution. The Provincial rank of which James the Second had 
stripped New Hampshire, in common with the rest of New 
England, had been, six years later, restored by William and 
Mary, and an important period in its history had arrived. 
It is my purpose more thoroughly to illustrate this subject, 
at some future time, in a monograph, descriptive of the 
various Province Seals following that to which we have given 
attention here, down to the time when the authority of the 
British government terminated at the Revolution. It seems 
fitting, however, at this point, to refer briefly to the form of 

been inadvertently printed underneath the copy of the old town charter of 
NewCastle (granted by William and Mary, May 30, 1693), as given in 
Mr. John Albee's valuable volume entitled : New Castle, Histoi'ic and Pic- 
turesque, Boston : 1884. This informality, however, is easily accounted 
for, when we realize the fact that the earlier Seal exhibited upon the silver 
die only had official existence during the brief period embraced within the 
years 1692- 1694. 



23 



the Seal as borne by New Hampshire at the beginning of 
the struggle with the mother country. 

In response to a resolution passed the third of November, 
1775, by the Continental Congress, sitting at Philadelphia, 
recommending " to the Provincial Convention of New Hamp- 
shire to call a full and free Representation of the People, and 
that the Representatives, if they think it necessary, Establish 
such a Form of Government as in their judgment will best 
produce the Happiness of the People, and most effectually 
secure Peace and good Order in the Province," the people 
of New Hampshire, through their representatives in con- 
gress convened at Exeter, January 5, 1776,* voted, "that 
this Congress assume the Name, Power and Authority of a 
House of Representatives or Assembly for The Colony 
of New Hampshire. And that said House then proceed to 
choose twelve Persons, being reputable Freeholders and 
Inhabitants within this Colony, in the following Manner, 
viz : Five in the County of Rockingham, Two in the County 
of Strafford, Two in the County of Hillsborough, Two in the 
County of Cheshire, and One in the County of Grafton, to be 
a distinct and separate Branch of the Legislature, by the 
Name of a Council for this Colony." It was further provided 
that an executive or President be elected by the latter body, 
and the Hon. Meshech Weare, a citizen of high standing, was 
chosen. 

The Seal borne by the Colony displayed a codfish, five 
arrows bound together, and a pine tree.f Around the collar 
of this Seal, which was of copper and one inch and a half in 
diameter, was the inscription : colony of new Hampshire, 
with the Latin legend : vis unita fortior. New Hampshire, 
in her long and varied history as Province, Colony and State, 
has borne many Seals, but never one more appropriate, or 
that exhibited a finer sentiment. The codfish and the pine 
tree represented her two staple sources of revenue ; while as 

* Acts and Laws of the State of New Hampshire, in America. America : 
Printed at Exeter, in the State of New Hainfi shire: M ' • DCC ' • LXXX. 
f See Figure I. 



24 



the sheaf of seven arrows borne on the shield of Holland 
typified the Seven Provinces in the war for Independence, so 
were the five arrows exhibited on the Revolutionary Seal of 
New Hampshire, emblematic of her five counties, bound to- 
gether in support of a common cause, an attitude fitly 
expressed by the motto : " United strength the stronger." 

THE COLONY TAKES THE NAME OF THE STATE. 

The Colony, in Council and House of Representatives 
convened at Exeter, upon the eleventh of September, 1776, 
voted, that "Whereas, by a late Declaration of the Honorable 
Continental Congress, the United-Colonies of North-Amer- 
ica are declared Free and Independant States : There- 
fore, Be It Enacted by the Council and Assembly : That 
henceforth this Colony assume and take the Name and Stile of 
The State of New-Hampshire." At this time a new Great 
Seal appears, in which, however, the device of the former 
Seal was retained, although the size of the copper die was 
enlarged to that of two inches diameter, and in recognition 
of the new title appears the Latin legend : sigill : rei-pub : 
neo hantoni : with the old motto, as above.* This Seal was 
thenceforward borne unchanged through the war for Inde- 
pendence, and I find no record affecting it until June 12, 
1784, when, in the Journal of the House for that date, it was 
" Voted, that the Hon. George Atkinson, Esq r . ., John Pickering, 
Esq r . and George Gaines, Esq r . ., with such of the honorable 
Senate as may be joined, be a committee to prepare a device 
and inscription for a Seal for this State, and lay the same 
before this House at their next session ; and that the Seal 
used under the late Constitution be made use of until another 
is provided." 

ADOPTION OF THE SEAL OF THE STATE. 

At the second session of the Legislature under the new 
Constitution, convened at Portsmouth, October 20, the com- 
mittee upon the Seal made its report to the House of Rep- 

* See Figure II. 




Figure I 





Figure II 



Figure III 




Figure IV 



SEALS BORNE BY THE COLONY AND STATE 



25 

resentatives, under date of the ist of November, 1784, as 
follows : " The Committee chosen at the last session of the 
General-Court for preparing a device and inscription for a Seal 
for this State, reported ; that the device be a field encompassed 
with laurel, round the field in capital letters, sigillum rei- 
publiCjE neo hantoniensis, on the field a rising sun, and a 
ship on the stocks, with American banners displayed, and 
that said Seal be two inches diameter," * which device and 
inscription being considered, "Voted, that the same be re- 
ceived and accepted, and that the said committee procure 
the Seal as soon as may be." This action received the 
concurrence of the Senate, and the State Seal of New Hamp- 
shire as thus established, one hundred and four years ago, 
has never since been changed, f 

ORIGIN OF THE NAME OF HAMPSHIRE. 

A few remarks in closing this paper may be appropriately 
added respecting the source of the present name of Hamp- 
shire, represented in the inscription upon the silver die by 
the abbreviation Hampton: from the Latin proper name 

* See Figures III and IV. 

f An Act to Establish a Seal, to be used as The Great Seal of this 
State. 

Whereas, the Committee appointed by the General-Court to prepare 
a device and inscription for a State Seal, did on the first day of November 
last, lay before said Court a device with the following inscription, viz : a 
field encompassed with laurels, round the field in capital letters, sigillum 
REiPUBLiCiE neo hantoniensis, on the field a rising sun and a ship on 
the stocks, with American banners displayed, being two inches diameter, 
which was then voted to be received and accepted, and accordingly has 
since that time been used as the great Seal of the State : 

But as doubts have since arisen, whether the vote for establishing said 
Seal was sufficiently explicit ; for removing such doubts, therefore 

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, 
in General-Court convened, That the said Seal, with the above recited 
inscription, be fully established and used in all cases, as the great Seal of 
this State, and considered as having been such from the first day of 
November last. — Acts and Laws of the State of New Hampshire in 
America: Passed February 12, 1785. 



26 



Hamptonia, used here in its genitive, Hamptoniae. The ori- 
gin of the ancient name of Southampton,* from which it is 
derived, runs back to the early days of the Saxon period. It 
was here, history tells us, that the fierce and dauntless Gervissi, 
that intrepid tribe of Saxon warriors, led by Cerdic and Cyn- 
ric, first made head towards the conquest of southern Britain, 
landing upon the banks of the Anton as early as A. D. 500 ; 
and step by step gained that foothold from which was to 
rise, a score of years later, the powerful Saxon kingdom of 
Wessex. Mention is made, in an early manuscript which has 
been ascribed to Csedwalha, of "the division of Heatttun" about 
A. D. 680 ; while the first record of the name in its form of 
Hamtanscire, appears in the Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 755, when 
Sigebert, the rebellious King of Wessex, was deprived by the 
Witan of the whole of his kingdom except Hamtanscire. 
Under date of A. D. 837 and thereabouts, the name occurs 
in the forms of Hamtun and Heantun ; and later continu- 

* March 9, 1447 (25 Henry VI), a Charter was granted, creating the 
town, with its liberties and port, a county, with power to elect a sheriff, to 
be certified by the mayor to the Barons of the Exchequer. It provides 
"that our said town, with the port and precinct thereof, and the port 
of Portsmouth, which is now called the town of Southampton and its pre- 
cincts, shall be one entire county, incorporated in word and deed, separate 
and distinct from the County of Southampton forever ; and shall be called 
'our county of the town of SOUTHAMPTON.' Sheriff to be chosen each 
year on the Friday before St. Matthew's Day," * * * * A new obverse to 
the latest town seal, of silver, was presented, as acknowledged Aug. 23, 
1587, by Richard Etuer, late of Hampton, fishmonger of London. It 
bears a magnificent three-masted ship in full sail, with the newly given town 
arms (granted by Queen Elizabeth Aug. 4, 1575) on the mainsail; the 
older obverse was a one-masted vessel, no ship in England having had 
more than one mast till about 15 14; on the forecastle were two men 
blowing with trumpets. The legend on the newer obverse is : sigillum 
commune viLL,E southamtonle. The original reverse, still in use, bears 
in a central canopied niche a figure of the Virgin and Child ; within a 
niche on either side is a figure in adoring attitude ; the legend is ' mater 
virgo dei tu miserere nobis.' The patent granted by Elizabeth states 
that the town had borne arms since its incorporation by Henry the Sixth. — 
The Reverend J. Sylvester Davzes, M.A., F.R.A. : A History of South- 
ampton. Southampton: 1883. 



2 7 



ously in the chronicles of the time as Hamtimscire, until 
about A. D. 920, when at the death of Ethel fleda, her brother 
Edward of Wessex succeeded to her authority in Mercia ; and 
the former kingdom was annexed to the latter, an event 
followed shortly after, by the union of all the remaining 
states of the Saxon Heptarchy under the sceptre of Edward 
the Elder. It is at this time that the prefix South appears, 
annexed to early Hamtun, probably added, in the opinion of 
authorities upon the subject, to distinguish it from the 
Hamtun in Mercia, afterwards known as Northampton. In 
Domesday Book, that great survey of all England, made by 
command of William the Conqueror, it is recorded as Hautes- 
shire ; and in parchments of the Middle Ages as Sudham- 
te scire, Stidhamtonsire, and Sudenhamptonsire. 

The question as to the derivation of the present name is 
one which has given rise among scholars to much difference 
and discussion. Two theories are advanced concerning it, in 
support of either of which good authority may be quoted. 
Sir Henry C. Englefield, Bart.,* in his most interesting sketch 

* Before we enter on a description of the beautiful and ancient town of 
Southampton, it may not be improper to say a few words on the derivation 
of its name, on which antiquaries are by no means agreed : some having 
supposed that it took its origin from the river An, or Anton, near whose 
southern extremity it stands ; while others have merely deduced it from the 
word Ham (a home or place of residence) , which so often enters into the 
composition of the names of our towns, sometimes with, and sometimes 
without the adjunct of Ton. Ham in Surrey, and Hampton in Middlesex and 
Herefordshire, Northampton, and near it Southam, are sufficient examples 
of this mode of composition ; and it is rather curious that the two last 
quoted names should in this place be exactly inverted, in Southampton and 
Northam. How long Northam has borne its present name, I have no 
means of investigating ; but it seems evident that it can only have received 
it from its situation with respect to Southampton. Yet probable as this 
really appears, I cannot help inclining to the sentiment of those who derive 
its more honourable appellation from the beautiful stream which ornaments 
the central parts of the county, and indisputably gives its name not only 
to numerous places in its course, but to the county itself. The town of 
Andover, the village of Abbot's-An, the farm of Northanton and hamlet of 
Southanton, both near Overton and not far from the eastern source of the 
river Anton, or rather Ant, which I conceive to have been the British name 



28 



of the old town of Southampton, refers us for the root of the 
name directly to the ancient stream of the An (or Anton), 
which waters central Hampshire, part of which river is now 
known as the Test, whose junction with the river Itchen in 
front of Southampton borough, forms the present Southamp- 
ton water, so called, which, Sir Henry asserts, in the opinion 
of many antiquaries is identical with the Antona Aqua, men- 
tioned by the historian Tacitus in his description of this 
portion of Britain. I quote freely from this work in the note 
given below, in which, as will be seen, the author states his 
position with great care. Upon the other hand, the Reverend 
J. Sylvester Davies, M.A., F.R.A., in his admirable history 
of Southampton, published in 1883, refers us for the root of 
the name to the Saxon ham, a home. This theory is evi- 
dently the popular one, and has obtained wide circulation, 
and not without good reason, as it will be seen that the name 
of Hamtunscire may be readily formed from the combination 
of the Saxon nouns ham, a home ; tun, a place ; and scire (or 
scyre), a division or district, or — in modern English phrase — 
the home county. The definition, should we adopt Engle- 
field's conclusion, that the name finds its origin in that of 
the river, would be, the division (or county) of the An (or 
Anton). We may, however, adopt either theory, and note 
how readily, passing through various mutations, and finally 
dropping a syllable, the name of Hampshire came to be 
at length evolved. 



of this river and estuary, are abundant proofs of the probability of this 
etymology ; and it may be said, by a very natural confusion of two words 
so similar (particularly in composition) as An and Ham, Northam, from its 
position with respect to Southampton, may easily have received its name 
under the idea that Southampton was formed from Ham, not An. — Sir 
Henry C. Englefteld, Bart., F.R.S.: A Walk through Southampton. 
Southampton : 1 80 1 . 



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